Vicar’s report 2011 - Annual Church Meeting

I wrote a report of last year which can be read in the booklet of reports now available. This is my opportunity to look ahead. Elaine has put together a really exciting document concerning the kids and youth work but this is my opportunity to look forward positively on the New Year.I am delighted to be able to say that as far as the team are concerned Giving in Grace proved a great success. We may not have realised the amount we had on our ‘wish list’ but we are delighted to say that a substantial increase has been pledged or already started, in addition to several new volunteers being realised. The Men’s and Women’s ministry is now well established which is a delight to Lindy and myself and I hope also to those who attend. That’s just some of what has been accomplished and for which we are beginning to see the fruit. But what about the things ‘in the pipeline’ for this year? The first will be a confirmation service to be held at our church on the 24th June at which we have 9 candidates, four of whom are adults. The Rt Revd George Cassidy, formerly Bishop of Southwell has kindly agreed to come over to the Island in the absence of our Diocesan Bishop who has retired by then. It is great to have such occasions and I would encourage you please to come and of course to pray for the candidates who will be mentioned in the What’s on under prayer.I would also like to show you a brand new resource for training people in being more able to talk to others about their faith. It is called Projekt 1 and has been produced locally on behalf of the Jersey Evangelical Alliance. Cost is £7 per copy and it lasts 7 weeks, so £1 per week. An excellent resource for use in a housegroup, or youth group, come and have a look after if you are interested.As, I hope, you are already aware we are currently going through a series of men and women of vision in our Sunday morning series because having a vision is vital to life and growth. This is because it was felt our present mission statement needs to be completely re-done as it is now 11 years old. We have asked Gordon Randall from Winchester to come over and help us do this and I would encourage as many of you as can possibly make it to be around for the whole weekend to make the most of the teaching and to be part of the discerning and formation of our new mission statement. Gordon, being a diocesan officer, comes to us free as part of our contribution to Winchester by our share payments.Finally I would like to share one last thing and a couple of associated thoughts. Today, as always at such meetings, it was a delight just to appoint people for offices there being no need for elections. However, this is not the ideal, as it would be wonderful to have several people trained up and willing to take on the senior leadership ministries within our church. It delights me that at long last we are able to let John stand down as Churchwarden (as he has mentioned each year his desire to relinquish one of his offices but reluctantly continued for another year each time), as this has been one of the difficulties for many years. There have been no others who are willing to do the jobs so the incumbent officers remain for many years. We have agreed that there should be a maximum of six years any officer can now serve in one term of office (being elected each year), which means that we need to be planning to raise up others who will be confident, competent and called to take on these roles in the future. It has been amazing, over the years, to work with the officers we have had and I thank them all for what they have done and for some the astonishing amount of time they have served. But it is now time for a new generation to come forward, be trained, and take up leadership roles. It feels, as my friend Peter Vargeson, said recently; it is time for the older, very competent leaders, to let the next generation have a go and that is hopefully what we are beginning to see. One of the very exciting results of GIG is that we will be running a course by the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS) called ‘Growing Leaders’ from September, to which we have invited some 19 folk, some who are in council or officers now, others who are new to leadership and a couple of much younger folk too. Growing Leaders has been adopted by the diocese as training for new leaders within the diocese and of those churches that have run it I hear nothing but praise. Most people will have a go at something if they understand what it is they are having a go at! So education is vital if we are to raise up new leaders at St. Andrew’s. It is by invite only but if you are interested Adrian or I are happy to tell you about it. It is not a demanding course but lasts a whole school year. Even now the initial group is being invited to an introduction day in July. It has been stated by many that the greatest need for the church of today is more, confident, competent and called leaders. What might this enable us to do? Maybe plant a new congregation elsewhere in our district, new housegroups, new leaders in existing groups, more outreach etc. The list is endless and one thing you can guarantee whatever we can dream up God can do better. The future looks exciting from where I sit today. In an age of doom and gloom our church is beginning to grow slowly again and has a direction to travel. In September we can also together put that direction into writing, which may well bring its own surprises and challenges but with what we are already doing we will be able to meet both.